The sled that the dogs would drag without
apparent difficulty suddenly seems to weigh tons. All hands in harness
and pulling like slaves cannot accomplish more than two miles an hour.
The ice is put upon the runners the first thing in the morning when
coming out of the igloo. The sled is turned upside down, and the water,
after being held in the mouth a little while to warm it, is squirted
over the runners and freezes almost immediately in a temperature below
zero. In this way successive layers are applied until a clean, smooth
surface is acquired, upon which the sled slips over the snow with
comparative case. Now, the ice was usually all off the sleds by noon,
and progress was slow and laborious.
[Illustration: HUNTING MUSK-OXEN.]
We got an observation on the 21st at noon, which showed us our latitude
to be 65 deg. 45 min. north, agreeing closely with Lieutenant
Schwatka's dead reckoning. This, according to the chart, would put us
on the north bank of Wager River; but as yet we had seen no signs of
it, nor did we subsequently see anything that looked like such river.
This can be accounted for by the presumption that the survey was made
during the early summer, when the lakes are full, and some of the
valleys connecting them may have contained water enough to float a
boat. Before winter these might dry up and leave only a series of
disconnected lakes.
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